Expert advises parents to oversee children’s use of social media

Mr Yemi Odutola, External Relations Lead, Women Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC) has urged parents to monitor children’s excessive use of social media to avoid addiction and poor performance in school.Odutola said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday.He noted that although social media played a vital role in modern day lifestyle, it had several disadvantages that should not be ignore.Odutola said nowadays schools allowed students to bring their cell phones to classrooms, mainly for security reasons so that their parents could get in touch with them in case of emergencies.He, however, said unfortunately most teenagers misused the opportunity to browse through social media in school when they should be learning.According to him, this consequently affects their academic performance resulting in low grades.Odutola said social media platforms also caused series of problems for parents and teens, such as cyberbullying, catfishing, online grooming, unsafe teen dating apps, unrealistic body and lifestyle standards.These issues, he said, could destabilise a teenager’s reality and disrupt his or her daily life.“Constant use of social media also leads to technology addiction. When teens stay busy surfing social media apps non-stop, they ultimately get addicted to their devices.“Hence, it is necessary for parents to monitor their teenagers’ social media and internet consumption before it gets too late.“Social media is the hub of fashion, trends and gossip, which is very entertaining, but constant scrolling on social media apps can make you feel lonely too.“Relentless use of social media with little to no in-person social interactions may gradually lead to awkward social behaviour in children and teens,” Odutola said.Citing the case of China, he said particular ages of children were prohibited from using social media for a particular period of time including gaming.Odutola explained that those limitations were enforced because they claimed it affected the eye sight of children and also made them have bad grades.Odutola urged parents to monitor the use technological apps by their children, which helped in curtailing the time spent on social media and also prohibited them from watching or surfing things that were above their age bracket.“This parental control apps allow adults to set limits on their children’s app access and overall phone use, and they serve as training wheels to help children and teens build healthy tech habits,” he said.